PJ and Chris came on the weekend to bear their wishes for the old man and gave him a newly released video game which they continued to play till the sun went down. They were laughing, joking and talking about random things, a change from the usual moodiness and stress. Everything was good. Until...

"Dan, you don't look too good. Are you okay?" PJ asked after he had ordered some Chinese takeaway as everyone was hungry by now.

"Yeah, you look a bit pale", Chris noted with a frown. Dan huffed and shrugged his shoulders. "Don't I always? I live in England for fuck's sake", he said highly irradiated. Dan never talked so foully to his friends and they were a bit shock by his outburst.

"Hey, baby, what's wrong?" Phil asked gently and turned around on the floor to put his hand on Dan's leg comfortingly.

"Nothing's wrong! I'm just sick of you all asking about my well-being", Dan said and continued with a belittling voice which got louder by the sentence: "Are you okay, Dan? What's wrong, Dan? You look so sick, Dan. Is everything alright, Dan? You look so bad, Dan? Why don't you just get fucking over it, Dan?!"

Dan got up suddenly anger and frustration evident on his face. "Why does everyone have to be so fucking invasive?! I can take care of myself!" he yelled, sudden tears dropping from his eyes.

"Hey, hey, Bear. Please, calm down. We don't mean to annoy you. We're just worried sometimes. We just want to look after you like friends do", Phil said and got up with Dan. He put a hand on his cheek carefully and look him in the eyes attentively.

"But I just don't want everyone to worry all the time about me. It's stupid. I'm fine! I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine!" Dan screamed and threw his arms everywhere as if to prove his point. It definitely didn't work in his favor.

Phil wrapped his arms around his waist and tightened his hold to hug him even though Dan was struggling.

"It's your time to spend with our friends and have fun, but I can't help but mess it up by just being there silently even", Dan sobbed and eventually relaxed into the embrace and let his arms fall down over Phil's.

"No, no, baby, you didn't mess it up. I don't ever want you to feel about about yourself, you have no reason to. Just calm down and we can talk if you want to", Phil consoled him to sit down on the couch. PJ and Chris watched the situation from the floor, the controllers still in their hands, but game long forgotten. They were struck by the reality of the situation then. They hadn't realised in how much of a bad condition Dan was still in, but this really showed them some insight of it. They weren't disgusted or anything. They just felt sympathy for him.

Phil gently aided Dan to sit with him on the sofa and put his arm around his shoulders comfortingly. "Take your time", Phil said as Dan tried to stop the sobs and sniffling, but it all broke down again and again as hard as he tried. He buried his face in Phil's shoulder and Phil stroked his head.

Dan felt so embarrassed and ashamed, but he could not stop the outburst he had. It had all stressed him so much and all those thoughts had been flying around in his head for so long, were now out in the open.

"I-I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said that. I know you're just very caring. But I know it's putting pressure on you and I don't want that. I don't want to you worry about me so much. I feel like I can't even tell you everything, because then you'd think I'm really crazy or you would really start to feel bad about me and leave me. Or just feel even more pressured to be looking after me, or thinking you had done something wrong. You haven't", Dan said after he got some of his breath back and voice under control.

"No, no, Dan. Don't about it like that. You can tell me anything. I'd never leave you. I love you", Phil said and kissed the top of the brunette head lovingly. Dan rose his head to look at him teary eyed and clutched his checkered shirt in his clammy hands. "I do", Phil confirmed looking straight into Dan's eyes. "I do", he said one more time and hugged him tightly to his chest.

Chris and PJ had a little "aww" moment there and smiled to each other.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. I didn't mean to really. Please, forget what just happened", Dan apologized after he had completely calmed down and sat up a bit more upright. He felt now incredibly embarrassed, but tried to shake it all off as quick as he could. But he know that was as hard as it was even with time.

"No, we understand. It's fine now. It's good to get those type of things off your chest. Vent out a bit. It does good", PJ said softly and nodded his head along with his wise words. Chris nodded as well in a agreeing manner.

"Thanks", Dan said and hung his head in relief with a small appreciative smile. Phil smiled at him and rubbed his back gently. "Maybe we should watch a movie now? We've played this game forever", he proposed then.

"Yeah, sure."

After a moment of pondering they came to the conclusion that they would watch The Rover. They all had loved Animal Kingdom, so it should be just as good.

It seems that I don't know how to write anymore.